Are you following the Lord?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.
(Exodus 17:1a (NIV))

I hope that I am not the only one who finds the intricacies within God’s Word to be fascinating. I love the little things like the way God uses and reinforces meanings. He paints word pictures in order for us to understand Him better. One example is how Jesus is the Bread of Life and that He was born in Bethlehem, the place of bread.

Consider this passage from Exodus.

The Desert of Sin is another great example. Sinning is missing the mark. It is falling short of what God expects. It often leaves us barren and desolate. If you look up the word desert in a dictionary, it will probably be defined as a barren and desolate place. When we are trapped, when we are lost in sin, we are not capable of finding our way out of our desert. We cannot save ourselves. We need the Lord to guide us. What is described in this passage from Exodus is a perfect picture of how humanity is lost in a desert of sin and the only way out is to trust and follow the Lord. This is true collectively as well as individually.

Have you taken the steps to trust the Lord to lead you out of your desert? Have you turned your eyes upon Jesus and repented of the sins that left you barren and desolate? Have you recognized the meaning of the word picture that God has shown us? Without Jesus, each of us are left stranded and dying in the desert. With Jesus, we are lead to safety and righteousness.

Have you left your Desert of Sin?

Are you following the Lord?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you sure about your relationship with Jesus?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

“Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
(Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV))

Are you following your will or God’s?

Do you know the difference?

Most people may not know that there is a difference. Too many pray for things to happen because it is their will. All too often, when things don’t work out the way that they think they should, they search for another way to make them happen. Is this truly following God’s will or is it following your own will and your own desires?

I know far too many people who seem to beat their heads against the wall with respect to things in their lives. They never see a blessing and they never see encouragement, yet, they still claim to be following God’s will.

Does this sound like your life?

I realize that God is not slow in keeping His promises and the lack of blessings and the lack of encouragement may be God saying that the time is not right. I know that this is a tough call. What do you do in these circumstances? What do you do when you feel that God is calling you into something, yet you are not seeing anything come to fruition?

Look at David. He was called to be king of Israel, yet he faced many years of persecution. The one thing about David that stands out is that he had a personal relationship with God. He longed to know God and he longed for God to know him.

Can you say the same thing?

Are your thoughts in line with God’s thoughts? Are your actions in line with what God is telling you? Perhaps the best way to say this, to cut to the chase, is to look at your priorities. Do you focus on yourself first and then everything that you claim to do for God is only done so that you can receive the accolades of people? God looks at the heart.

Are you sure about your relationship with Jesus?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are God’s decrees an integral part of your life?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
then I will keep them to the end.
(Psalms 119:33 (NIV))

We keep the things that we are taught. If we are taught to swim, we never forget how. If we are taught to ride a bicycle, we may get a little out of practice, but we never forget how to propel ourselves along on two tires. Perhaps this is why we are told to study God’s Word and His ways so that we may learn them. We may forget a few small things, but eventually, we will remember and repent. We will return to God.

Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.
(Proverbs 22:6 (NIV))

We are all children of God. We are in constant training so that we may follow God’s ways. If we truly desire to learn them, then we will not forsake them. It is hard to go against something that you have learned that you know is right. We may be able to lie to ourselves, but eventually we will return.

Consider a medical student who is intent on becoming a doctor. They will learn things that will become an integral part of their being, yet, they cannot walk away from this knowledge even though they may walk away from the medical profession. It has become a part of them.

When you are taught and freely learn, what you learn becomes an integral part of your very being.

Are God’s decrees an integral part of your life?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you fulfilling your duty?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.
(Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NIV))

Everyone has things that they feel they need to do. Some people call them obligations. Some call them responsibilities. Some people call them their duty. Others may say that these things are their priority, while some simply refer to them as the right thing to do. No matter what you may call them, we all have something that we feel we must do.

What are the things in your life that you place as a priority, as your duty?

Is one of your duties to provide for your family? Perhaps you are a business owner and you have employees and customers that are a central part of your daily life. Perhaps you are called to be a first responder and you feel that your duty is to protect and to serve. If that is you, thank you for your selflessness!

No matter what you may feel that your duty or obligation may be, there is one that is far greater and a lot of people fail to ever do anything about it! In fact, Jesus was asked point blank and responded without any hesitation.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
(Matthew 22:36-38 (NIV))

I can hear it now. Some may say that these two passages contradict each other. One says to fear God and the other says to love God with all your heart. How can fear and love mean the same thing? To be honest with you, that is a concept that may be difficult for people to grasp, but the basic sentiment behind this is that you should desire to do what is right in God’s eyes. Perhaps a better way to refer to this potential contradiction is to look at it in terms of respect. When you respect God for who He is, you both love and fear Him at the same time. The fear comes from the simple fact that we are all sinners who deserve whatever judgment we have earned. The love comes from the fact that even though He is a just and righteous God and we are all guilty of our sins, He has freely offered grace and mercy in place of the judgment.

I find it interesting that the passage in which we are told to fear God is from the Old Testament and it was recorded long before grace was freely given. I love the fact that the passage in which Jesus told us to love God is in the New Testament. Jesus took the liberty to paraphrase the commandments and let it be known that we no longer had to fear God, but through Him, God reached out to us in love. Through God’s act of love for us, we can now approach God in love.

I don’t know about you, but I both fear God and love God. As a part of His creation, it is my duty to the Lord our God as Creator!

Are you fulfilling your duty?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Have you embraced your new job description?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
(1 Peter 2:9 (NIV))

If you have ever been employed, you have probably been given a job description. Have any of them ever sounded so full of promise and hope as the one that we have been given as a follower of Jesus? Even your dream job in this world falls drastically short of this new calling, this new job description, that we have been given.

Think about that for a moment. Let it sink in!

How would your resume be received if you put the words from this passage on it? Everyone wants to be part of an elite group. Even in a fallen world, being able to rightfully claim that you are a member of a chosen people should catch someone’s attention. What about being able to claim that you are part of royalty? What about convincing people that you are special and set apart as holy? I realize that this sounds like we, as the Body of Christ, are bragging, but we aren’t bragging about anything that we have done. Nothing of our own has been able to place us into this special job description. It was only because of the grace and mercy freely given to us at the cross that any of us can claim these traits. Sometimes I think that members of the Body of Christ fail to see ourselves the way that God sees us. We see ourselves as sinners, as filthy rags with no value. Because we know where we have been, we fail to embrace where we are called to be. We fail to embrace how God sees us and to where He is calling us.

Have you embraced your new job description?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What will you have to say for yourself?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.
(Romans 14:12 (NIV))

If you have ever written a resume or a bio, you have had to tell others about yourself. Perhaps you have found yourself in a conversation and you felt that you had to tell about your exploits. Perhaps you have had a work related situation that didn’t go as it should and you had to elevate yourself. In any of these situations, do you ever find yourself stretching the truth to make yourself sound better? Do you select words in such a way that they can be interpreted in your favor? It is human nature to “toot our own horn.” We have a tendency to embellish ourselves in such a way that we appear to be better than others at just about anything and everything.

Most of us don’t actually lie, but rather, we say things that drop hints without coming right out and saying something that isn’t true.

Is this lying? Is this aspect of human nature something that we just can’t overcome? In doing these things, we are actually judging others as not as important as we are. This even implies that we place ourselves above others in the eyes of God!

You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will acknowledge God.'”
(Romans 14:10-11 (NIV))

God sees the truth because He sees the heart. Our words can be used to deceive, but our heart tells the truth. We need to make sure our words reflect the fact that we have invited Jesus into our hearts. If our words and actions reflect this in our daily lives, then our accounting of ourselves to God will reflect that as well.

What will you have to say for yourself?

Copyright 1998 – 2018 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Can you imagine the day when this will come to pass?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them.
(Isaiah 11:6 (NAS))

Do you believe that this can happen?

Do you believe that God can change the very nature of His creation? Do you believe that God can change a heart?

Think about that last question.

Let me ask it again.

Do you believe that God can change a heart?

If you are like me, you are probably a first hand account of this very thing. Looking back, I was never a bad person in my own eyes, but, according to God’s standards I was. I had no desire to change. God had other plans. I just needed to get on board with His agenda instead of my own.

Have you ever seen two people who, from a worldly perspective, made no sense that they were friends? God can bring enemies together. It just takes our frail humanity to get out of the way.

I often read this passage and think that this must be something like what the Garden of Eden was like. Can you imagine the day when this will come to pass? It will be a glorious day!

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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